Rainbow and Sky
by nukestar
Summary: Rainbow Dash goes on a quest to find her parents and quickly finds herself in a war between powers that she never thought existed. The first story in the Equestria and Olympus Saga. Where will her loyalties lie
1. Chapter 1-Parent-less

Chapter 1 – Parent-less

Rainbow Dash awoke suddenly hearing voices that she didn't recognize. As she opened her eyes she saw three pegasi she had never seen before.

"I cannot believe that any town, even one as pointless as Ponyville, has it's weather managed by such a lazy pegasus" The central pony said in an accent that could have only come from Canterlot or Trottingham, she was a grayish magenta colour with a pastel blue mane.

"Hmph" The other two agreed.

"What?" Rainbow responded sleepily "Who are you and what are you doing in Ponyville if you hate it so much?"

"Our business is none of your concern" The same pony answered "But we could not sit idle while somepony was sleeping on the job, even in Ponyville"

"And _my_ business is none of _your_ concern" Rainbow retorted "leave me alone"

"Why? So you can sleep some more" she questioned "Didn't your parents teach you that you shouldn't be so lazy?"

"**No they didn't! I never knew my parents!**" Rainbow yelled stomping on the cloud she had been sitting on and causing a small lightning crack. Rainbow then kicked the cloud into the faces of the pegasi and flew away.

"How rude" the pegasus said just within Rainbows earshot

"Hello Rainbow" Twilight Sparkle said when Rainbow Dash entered the library, then with a mocking bow she added "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"Very funny Twilight" Rainbow answered sarcastically and then asked "Who are those three new pegasi that I saw in town"

"Oh, them, they are doing a food census across all of Equestria; checking both food production and storage."

"Hmph"

"What Rainbow?" Twilight asked.

"I just can't stand anypony that simply thinks they're better than anypony else" Rainbow stated unaware of the personal irony.

Twilight couldn't stop herself from giggling "But _you_ think you're better than everypony else"

"That is only because I _am_ better than anypony else"

With that comment Twilight burst into hysteria; to which Rainbow rolled her eyes.

When Twilight stopped laughing she asked "But you didn't come here to talk about ponies you don\t know did you?"

Rainbow let out a dark chuckle at Twilight's own irony but then found herself unable to talk about that subject "Food census? That is strange; do the Princesses think that we could run out of food?"

"I hope not" Twilight answered warily and then quickly changed the subject "I think they are on their way to Sweet Apple Acres to check the orchards and farmland"

"I hope Applejack gets them dirty and muddy, I bet they would just hate that" Rainbow said with a grin.

"Why?" Twilight asked shocked "If that happened they might give bad reviews of the farm to the Princesses"

"I guess you're right Twilight" Rainbow said shamefully

"And once again I ask you Rainbow Dash; you did not come here to talk about the census ponies, did you?" Said Twilight forcefully

"No" Rainbow was looking at the ground refusing to look in Twilight's eye "I came here to talk about my parents"

"Really?" Twilight asked. Rainbow had never even mentioned her parentage and Twilight had decided it better not to pry.

"Twilight, I have never known who my parents were or even if they're still alive. I have tried to ignore this my whole life but I can no longer. It's tearing me up inside. I need to try and find who they are or were. I don't think I can go on for to much longer if I don't find out"

"You realize that you might not like what you find"

"Yes I do, but it cannot be worse than not knowing"

"Then I think you should go" Twilight responded softly "I don't think you would want to go to the party Pinkie is hosting"

"A party?" Rainbow looked confused

"Yeah when Pinkie heard that there was new ponies coming for the census she insisted that she would throw a welcome party"

"Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I just hope Pinkie won't be discouraged by it's outcome"

"Well I still think you should go and find your parents."

And with that Rainbow Dash returned to her home with to pack.


	2. Chapter 2-The adventure begins

Chapter 2 – The adventure Begins

Twilight heard the door open and a pink fluff-ball of a pony bounced in "Hello Pinkie"

"Oh, hi Twilight I need you to try this cake I made for the party, it's a new recipe and I need somepony to try it, can you try it, can you, can you? Please"

"Um Pinkie I am studying and ... mph" But Twilight couldn't finish her answer before Pinkie force fed her a piece of cake. "Pinkie this is really good"

"Really Twilight, I am always trying new recipes for new cakes and while many of them are really, really good I occasionally make one that is not so good and just icky"

"Okay Pinkie" said Twilight.

"Okie-Dokie-Loki, goodby Twilight" said Pinkie as she bounced towards the door.

"Um, Pinkie"

"Yeah?" said as she stopped where she was

"Rainbow will be unable to attend your party" Twilight said worried how the excitable Pinkie would take it

"Awww," Pinkie said sadly. And then in an excited voice "Why?"

"She left to find who her true parents are"

A sudden change came over Pinkie. Her face went blank and her eyes started glowing.

"Pinkie are you okay?" Twilight asked worried

Then pinkie spoke in a voice that sent chills down Twilight's spine

"The daughter of Rainbow and Sky

has the power to decide

whether Olympus falls

or rises to conquer all

Whether she takes the Might

to protect those in fright

or if she gives the power

to those that are sour"

Pinkie then fell exhausted to the ground

"Pinkie are you okay" Twilight said in a worried tone.

Pinkie jumped to her feet "Why would I not be okay, Twilight. It's okay that Rainbow Dash is missing the party because this means I can throw her a party when she gets back, I have always wanted to throw a return-from-an-epic-quest-to-find-your-parents-party and it will be so much more interesting than the welcome-to-Ponyville parties I get to throw for everypony"

"What about what just happened to you Pinkie, the strange voice?" Twilight questioned

"Oh, silly, what are you talking about? I just was so happy that I lost my balance and fell down"

"Sure" Twilight said rolling her eyes.

After Pinkie left Twilight started pulling books of the shelves and said to herself "Whatever _that_ was, it was important"

Rainbow Dash had flown a fast pace on her way to Cloudsdale and had made it there in good time. She landed in the outskirts of the city and walked the rest of the way on hoof. It took her an hour to find the house she was looking for.

Rainbow knocked in the door and it was opened by a middle aged orange pegasus stallion with a long mane or red, yellow and orange with a cutie mark of a flame. He asked "Rainbow Dash I haven't seen you in awhile, what brings you here?"

"Hello Firewing I have come to talk about my parents. I want to know who they are."

Firewing hesitated then said "Okay Rainbow. Why don't you come in and have a seat?"

When they were both sitting Firewing said "Rainbow, I wish you had sent me a letter indicating you were coming, then I could have cleaned up a bit"

"How do you know I didn't send a letter, I flew here faster then any letter could, even sent using express" She said jokingly "anyways I have seen this house in _much_ worse condition than this"

"I guess you're right" He laughed a bit "however most of the time that the house was in the '_much_ worse condition' it was your hoofwork"

"Firewing, you raised me, you must at least have an impression of who my parents are"

"Unfortunately, I don't have a clue; however I will help you as much as I can" He said "The day that I found you I remember well. I was young and passionate working for the Pegasus Weather Control Team in and around Cloudsdale. One day I saw a rainbow in the sky that had not been scheduled. I decided to ask several of my colleagues about it only to get blank stares as if they didn't even see it. One day I flew out to find it knowing that it was important. When I finally got to the end of the rainbow I found a little foal with the cutest rainbow mane"

"Hmph, cute, really?" Rainbow scoffed with a roll of the eyes

"Well you were. Anyways I found you in a basket with two letters. The first was addressed to me and it told me to name you Rainbow Dash and to raise you as my own, it also told me to give you the second letter when you were ready for it. I think that time is now``

Firewing got up out of his cloud chair and exited the room leaving Rainbow to think. _Why would anypony leave their baby foal in the middle of nowhere._

"I have your letter here" Firewing said as he re-entered the room holding a stark white envelope. He walked up to where Rainbow was sitting and handed here the envelope and a thin short knife that Rainbow instantly recognized as Firewing's letter opener. Rainbow opened the envelope and took out a piece of white paper with multicoloured hoofwriting on it and started to read

Dear Rainbow Dash, my daughter,

I have written this letter to you to tell you several things. The first is that I love you with all my heart and it is for that reason that parting with you was so difficult. However it is for that same reason that the parting was so necessary. It would have been too dangerous for you if I had decided against reason and raised you myself. I will have been watching over you every day watching you grow into the mare you are today and been protecting you without the knowledge of anypony. With this I come to the second point. I realize that you will wonder who I am and you will try to find me, however I hope you will not act on these desires for your own safety. I could not stand to see you even close to the dangers that permeate the world I live in. So I plead to you Rainbow Dash, do not search for me and be happy that I exist and watch over you for it would be much to dangerous for you to do otherwise. I could not stand to loose you

Your loving mother

"Thank you so much Firewing but I must go home now, I have much to think about"

"Then you go Rainbow Dash" He replied "I wish I could have done more"

"You have done more than enough" Rainbow said shocking Firewing with a hug.


	3. Chapter 3-Tough Thoughts

Chapter Three – Tough Thoughts

"A Prophecy," Twilight said "It has to be a prophecy"

"If you say so Twilight" Spike answered trying not to yawn

"There is nothing else it could be" Twilight had left early from the last party; she had more important things on her mind and Rainbow was right about it being a disaster. The census ponies had viewed the entire thing as a vulgar insult to their pride and had left in a way that might rival Gilda's exit. "But what could it mean"

"Maybe it means what it sounds like it means" Spike offered "that somepony can choose whether this Olympus falls or not?"

"No; every book agrees that prophesies are cryptic and never mean what you think they mean" Twilight said in a worried voice "and even if that is true. Who is it about? What is Olympus? And is the power or might it talks about?"

"Twilight I only know one pony who could be the daughter of rainbow a sky"

"Spike we cannot be sure; if we interpret the prophesy assuming it is about Rainbow Dash, and it turns out being for somepony else, there could be a horrible disaster. Bad things happen to ponies who misinterpret important prophesies" Twilight was shivering badly on the floor

"Twilight I thought you said you would not fret about things"

"But this is important!" Twilight screamed

"Twilight maybe you are overreacting again" Spike said "you did think that you would be sent to magic kindergarten if you missed one of your letters"

"But this is a prophesy, the fate of the _worlds_ could hang on the meaning of the words!" Twilight exclaimed

"Worlds? as in more than one?" Spike asked "Twilight I think you are going nutty again"

"But then even if it is Rainbow Dash. What is Olympus? What does that mean" Twilight said completely ignoring Spike's last comment

"Doesn't one of your books mention it?"

"Yes they do; or at least one of them does" then reading from the book "'Mount Olympus is a very tall mountain situated south of the Everfree Forest and close to what are know as the Chaotic Lands' that is all that I can find about it, **all!**"

"The Chaotic Lands? I've never heard of them"

"The Chaotic Lands are the lands beyond the control of the Princesses. They have never been touched by the Elements of Harmony and therefor are still under Discord's curse of eternal chaos. Few ponies have ventured into the Chaotic Lands and fewer still have returned but all that do tell tales of wild dangerous lands where little makes sense and nothing is safe. They are said to be inhabited by changelings and draconequi and dragons and griffons and hypogriffs and _dire-unicorns_" She said the last words with a shiver

"Dire-unicorns?"

"Twisted creature's that barely resemble unicorns, they are the result of dark experiments that went awry."

"Hmph. Twilight I think that you should forget about this whole prophecy thing. From what you've told me about them, they seem to happen whether or not you understand them and there is no point in fretting about something you cannot change"

"Spike but it is important that ..." Twilight began however she stopped when she heard something outside.

Rainbow Dash opened the door "Twilight, I'm back"

"Rainbow?! That was quick. What did you find out?"

Rainbow quickly went over her trip to Cloudsdale and the talk with Firewing

"Why didn't you ever tell me about this Firewing before? It sounds as if he was important in your life"

"He was, he raised me on his own like a father and he was the one the got me a job as a weather pegasus in Ponyville he was always very dear to me. I never mentioned him to you or anypony because if I had I would have needed to admit that I never knew my parents and that was, no is so painful to me." Rainbow said with tears in her eyes

"So are you finished? You know your mother cares for you enough to protect you"

"No I cannot stop now, if I do I do not know how much longer I can last"

"What?"

"In the past the only way I could deal with the hole in my heart where my parents should be was to pretend it didn't exist. But I can no longer do so, I have accepted the truth and cannot go back to running from it. I went through a door and cannot go back. I must at least try to find who my parents are otherwise I don't know how long I could last. No I cannot stop now, even if it is as dangerous as the letter says, I must find who my parents are or die trying"

Twilight was taken aback by how deeply emotional Rainbow Dash was; she had always seen Rainbow as generally shallow in character so this new depth was truly shocking "I guess there is nothing I can say to stop you?"

"No"

"Okay then I will help you to the best of my abilities"

"Did anything interesting happen while I was gone Twilight?" Rainbow asked noticing Twilight's dishevelled appearance

"Ummm ..." Twilight was truly torn about telling her friend about the prophecy. On one hand Rainbow had a right to know about a prophecy probably about her and on the other hand a prophecy is dangerous if misinterpreted

But before Twilight could chose Spike spoke up "Pinkie had a prophecy about you"

"What?" Rainbow said giving an accusing look at Twilight

"We don't even know whether it even is about you or not" Twilight said softly

"I want to know what it says" Rainbow demanded

"Okay" Twilight said unhappily handing Rainbow a piece of paper "I wrote the whole thing down"

"Hmm ..." Rainbow said while reading it "Twilight what is Olympus"

Twilight once again hesitated and one again Spike answered the question "Olympus is a mountain south of the Everfree forest"

"Okay," Rainbow said forcefully giving Twilight another accusing stare "i will need a good map to Olympus, I am leaving for it tomorrow, and I don't want any more funny business Twilight" Rainbow walked out of the library and slammed the door.

Twilight sighed in defeat.


	4. Chapter 4-Farewell Ponyville

Chapter 4-Farewell Ponyville

Rainbow Dash had woke up early in the morning to get an early start on the trip. After she had completed her morning routine she found herself outside the tree-house library ready to say her last goodbyes for a long time, assuming she survives, or forever, in case she doesn't. When she had first come to Ponyville, have been given the job by Firewing, she had assumed that she would stay only as long as it would take to move up enough as a weather pegasus that she could get a more prestigious, and better paying, position. However when Firewing had called her saying that a position had opened up in the Special Weather Team at Cloudsdale she had adamantly refused, realizing only at that point how much Ponyville meant to her. Ponyville may not have the culture of Canterlot or the industry of Cloudsdale or the economy of Manehattan but when she was given the choice to leave she realized that Ponyville was her home.

Rainbow opened the door of the library and was immediately struck with the fact that all the lights in the tree were off _how suspicious _she thought sarcastically. She got a funny idea and yelled into the dark tree "I guess I will just leave now because there is obviously nopony home" and then hid in a nearby bush outside the door waiting for the inevitable.

"Rainbow? Where did you go Rainbow" said Twilight visibly worried as she walked out of the library

Rainbow's other friends walked out of the library and started calling for her.

Rainbow let this continue for about ten seconds before it got to funny to keep herself from giggling

Pinkie instantly looked towards the bush where Rainbow was hiding "Why is the bush laughing? Bushes don't laugh do they?"

Rainbow burst into hysteria.

"No they don't. Therefor that is not a bush" Pinkie said pointing to the bush.

"Pinkie?" Twilight said slowly.

"If that is not a bush then why does it look like a bush" Pinkie wondered "hmm ... maybe ... the bush is a changeling"

That made everypony but Pinkie laugh hysterically. "What's so funny I'm being serious here" Pinkie said in a grave voice.

"Pinkie that isn't a changeling it's a bush with a pony hiding in it. Why don't you come out Rainbow?" Twilight said with a giggle

Rainbow obliged "You should have seen the looks on your faces when you thought I had left, it was hilarious" Rainbow said before starting to laugh again.

Rarity stopped laughing with a gasp when she saw Rainbow "Dear, you look simply dreadful. Nopony should ever hide in a bush" Rarity horn glowed with pastel blue light as she started dragging Rainbow unwillingly into the library with her magic "And I, Rarity, say on my honour I will make you look just gorgeous"

Rainbow gave a pleading look to Twilight who returned a full, and rather cheesy, smile which made Rainbow scowl.

After about 15 minutes of a rather painful and humiliating ordeal Rainbow was able to return downstairs to the surprise party Rainbow had irreparably damaged with her little joke. When she entered she saw the four of her friends, as that Rarity was cleaning up the mess Rainbow had not that accidentally caused in Twilight's washroom, playing 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'.

"Hey Rainbow Dash do you like the party?" Pinkie was somehow the first to notice even though she was blind-folded, Rainbow started to wonder how Pinkie managed that but stopped herself quickly, knowing how dangerous it was to wonder how Pinkie did anything, telling herself that the laws of the of the universe were void around Pinkie Pie.

"Hi everypony" Rainbow said as she walked to the four of her friends. Twilight, Fluttershy and Applejack looked visibly tired having, according to Rarity, stayed up all night preparing things for Rainbow's quest. Rainbow was uncomfortable with the unrequested help but Rarity had quickly pointed out that Rainbow had taken a very strong 'succeed or die trying' attitude about the whole thing so everypony had instantly wanted to help achieve the first outcome rather than the second. However it looked like Pinkie had been completely unaffected by the lack of sleep which contributed to the idea that the only reason that Pinkie ever actually slept was because it was terribly boring to stay awake with nopony to talk to.

"Howdy Rainbow, would y'all like to play 'pin the tail on the pony''

"No thanks AJ" as much as she would never admit it to her friends, she detested putting a blind-fold on even near her friends; maybe even especially near her friends. It wasn't that she mistrusted her friends or anything it's just that she still had vengeance sworn against from some of her more ... memorable pranks.

Rarity walked into the room, "I'm sure we all have better things to do than playing silly games, come Rainbow I have something to show you" Rarity led everypony into the adjacent room where Rainbow saw the most peculiar sight she had seen in a long time; standing in the centre of the room was one of Rarity's dress forms however what was on it was far from a dress. It looked like very typical hiking gear except for one major point; the entire set was done in every colour in Rainbow's mane, the clothing, which included a pair of pants, a shirt and a hat, was not an eyesore like one might expect but the bright hues actually worked pretty well.

"How do you like it Rainbow?" Rarity asked "I needed to colour the whole thing with gemstones because dyes, apparently, do not work on weave-mail"

"Did you say _weave-mail_?" Rainbow asked confused. Weave-mail was invented in the pre-classical era by one of the best unicorn blacksmiths to ever live. It was essentially fabric made out of very fine strands of metal enchanted with many protective spells

"Yes dearie I did"

"But how? Nopony has been able to make weave-mail in at least hundred years and you are not even a blacksmith"

"Exactly, weave-mail is a fabric and fabric is my speciality"

"Hmph"

Pinkie then came in with a small wrapped present (wrapped in rainbow coloured paper) and handed it to Rainbow Dash "Dashie I hope you like it"

Rainbow opened the box and took out a small metal cylinder that was, surprise surprise, painted with rainbows; Rainbow was starting to see a trend, "What is it?"

"It;s the Portable Pocket Party Pounder" Pinkie said as if it explained everything "I like to call it the PPPParty"

"Okay" Rainbow said "What is it?"

This time it was Twilight who answered "It's a miniaturized version of Pinkie's party cannon"

"Oh"

Next Fluttershy came out carrying about thirty little pouches "I hope you like them"

"What are they?" Rainbow said looking at the little pouches; rainbow counted six of every colour of the rainbow for a grand total of thirty six

"They are herbs I found in the Everfree forest" she said quietly "They all have their names on the pouches"

Rainbow picked up one of the blue pouch "Poison joke?" she asked

"It is a profoundly magical herb Rainbow, I am sure you will find a use for it" Twilight said

"Just don't eat it; or touch it" Pinkie said giggling the second comment seeming much like an afterthought

Rainbow then picked up one of the purple bags and cried out in surprise at what she read "Deadly nightshade?!"

"Just in case" Fluttershy responded softly "The red bags contain healing herbs"

Rainbow picked up one and read it's label _Fire-flower._

"The orange bags contain herbs that increase your physical or psychological abilities"

Rainbow picked up an orange bag; it said _Mhendraden Root_

"The purple bags contain deadly poisons and the blue bags contain other herbs with non-deadly but still negative effects"

Rainbow didn't pick up another one of either but she was struck by how confident Fluttershy was talking about the herbs

"The yellow bags contain herbs that have little to no effect on their own but can change the effect of the other herbs when mixed"

Rainbow picked up yellow bag that said _soft leaf_

"And the green bags contain my very favourite herbal teas"

Rainbow took a green bag that said _Shadowed sunrise_ and smelled it. The tea had a strong beautiful smell that Rainbow could hardly describe.

Next Applejack came with a flask and a large bag in her hands; both done in, as Rainbow had expected, the same colourful hues as the other items.

Rainbow took the flask first then proceeded to take the lid off. When Rainbow smelt the contents of it felt as if she had been punched in the face.

Once Rainbow had re-secured the lid she said with a smile to Applejack "Oh so this is what that cellar of yours is _really_ for; I wonder what the Princesses would think if they learned you were distilling hard liqueur in your basement"

"Ummm ..."

"Don't worry I won't tell, AJ" she said with a smirk. "But you are such a naughty naughty pony"

Applejack handed Rainbow the bag "This contains enough preserved food to last at least a month. After that you might have to resort to gathering from the forest"

"Thank you AJ" Rainbow said

Twilight then came up holding three things above her head with her magic a saddlebag a scroll and, how typical, a book. Rainbow took the bag first, which happened to mach perfectly with Rarity's weave-mail. She looked into the bag and saw that it was very empty, in fact too empty, for the space inside the bag was three times the size of the bag itself "What?" she asked confused.

"A volume expansion spell" was all Twilight said as she handed Rainbow the scroll "This is the map you wanted"

When Rainbow opened the map she was flabbergasted "Is this some kind of joke? This scroll has nothing on it"

"No this is not a joke. That is a smart map" Twilight handed her a quill "Just write the name of the intended destination with this and it will show you the fastest way there"

"Doesn't it need ink"

"Not on the smart map"

"Okay" Rainbow said sceptically and wrote the words _Mount Olympus_ on the scroll and was surprised when lines appeared on the map showing the entire journey from Ponyville to Mount Olympus appeared "Wow!"

Twilight handed her the book "If you liked that, you will love this"

"What is it?" Rainbow looked at the book with a squint. It was, other than the map, the only item that wasn't coloured in the hues of the rainbow; it did, however, have a picture of Rainbow's cutie mark on the front cover.

"I call it the inter-book, it is like the ultimate book and communication device" Twilight said excitedly "Write anything in the book that you want to know about and the book will tell you all it know of it. Also if you come across something important you can write it into the book and then access it any time. But the best feature of it is by far that ..." Twilight took out a book that looked the same except the cover held her cutie mark "... you can communicate with us no matter how far away you are by using the book-mail function" Twilight then went over how to use all three of the functions of the book with Rainbow

Fifteen minutes later Rainbow had dressed and packed and was about ready to take off when saw that her friends were even more exhausted than she had thought which made her wonder something "Wait, how exactly did you manage, in one night, to make all the stuff you gave me?"

"Ummm ..." Twilight hesitated "I may have used a time spell"

"What did you use?"

"A time stopping spell"

"This leads me to beg the question. How long have you been awake?"

"Since yesterday"

"Let me rephrase that. How long did you stop time for to make it all?"

"About three days worth give or take a few hours"

"Then I tell you all one thing. Do not follow me, especially in this state, you are all exhausted and you will only get yourselves hurt" Rainbow then took off and circled several times before flying south

"I don't care I'm going after her" Twilight said as she started a slow canter in the direction had gone. Twilight only got several metres before she tripped over herself and fell flat on her face

"Twilight, dear, I think Rainbow was right. We all need rest now" said Rarity

"Nonsense, Fluttershy can just get us more of that tea stuff" Applejack said

"I don't think so AJ" Rarity replied pointing to Fluttershy asleep on the ground

"Rainbow was wrong. I don't feel tired at all" Pinkie said

"Then just wait until the stimulant tea starts to wear off dear" Rarity said

"I didn't have any of the tea, the last time I had that tea _bad_ things happened"

The four friends took the sleeping Fluttershy into the library and Pinkie watched as the her three friends quickly fell asleep and then once she was sure that they were all asleep she exited the library and started bouncing southward towards the Everfree forest and towards Mount Olympus


	5. Chapter 5-In the Forest

Chapter 5-In the Forest

Rainbow lazed in the middle of a small clearing next to a blazing fire. In addition to the gifts here friends had given her Rainbow had packed several items of her own namely a camping set with a tent, flint, a knife, a flask of water and various cooking utensils. Rainbow had been looking up all the herbs in the inter-book trying to learn everything she could about their various medical and malignant properties. She was currently reading about mhendraden root which was a very powerful mental stimulant that could make somepony stay awake for days on end with little to no side effects although as soon as the herb's effect wears off the user is overcome with a very strong need to sleep. The most intriguing thing about the whole entry was the last line that was bolded, underlined and italicized "_**If you value your sanity or life do not ever give any mhendraden to Pinkie Pie under any circumstance!**_" at seeing that Rainbow chuckled trying to think what the herb could possibly do to the pink party pony.

Rainbow heard the bushes rustle and instantly froze. She slowly closed the inter-book and took out he utility knife and, interestingly enough, Pinkie's party pistol. She heard the bushes rustle again and then heard quiet voices "What is it?" asked a female voice quietly

"I don't know I have to get closer to see" a male voice answered quietly as the bushes rustled again.

Rainbow jumped over the bushes and landed softly on the other side "What was that?" the male voice asked

"I didn't hear anything" the female replied. Rainbow walked quietly up behind the bush an saw the back ends of two ponies, one a pegasus and the other either a earth pony or a unicorn.

"Hmm" said the male voice which Rainbow noticed was coming from the wingless pony

"What?" The female pegasus asked

"I see a camp site but nopony is there"

"That is absurd nopony in their right mind camp's in the Everfree forest"

"I do" Rainbow said loudly "and I don't like it when other ponies spy on me"

"Shit" said the pegasus out loud

"Okay, get up showing me your hooves the whole time"

"Fine" replied the pegasus dejectedly

The two ponies got up slowly with their hooves in the air. The stallion was in fact a red earth pony with a long brown mane, blue eyes and a cutie mark of what looked like a treasure map. While the pegasus mare was a mustard yellow colour with a grey-scale mane styled in the same fashion as Rainbow's own, eyes that were the exact same as Rainbow's pinky-red and a cutie mark of a compass.

When the two ponies saw Rainbow standing there pointing the PPPParty at them a look of confusion flashed across their faces. _No doubt they thought I would be a dragon or a changeling or some other dangerous character, and no doubt they are already underestimating me_. Suddenly both ponies charged at Rainbow who quickly shot the party pistol at the charging stallion and rolled to the right. Rainbow heard a thump as the stallion went down completely immobilized by the fact that he was now gift wrapped. Rainbow then jumped onto the mare and pinned her with her rear hooves while holding the knife up to the mare's neck

"Now I don't like being spied on but I detest being attacked. Tell me your name"

"My name is Daring Do, and you cannot do this to me"

This revelation shocked Rainbow to the core but she managed to keep a straight face "What do you mean I can't do this? I remind you that _you_ were spying on _me_ and then _you_ attacked _me _not the other way around. Anyways I see no necessity to harm you, so long as you don't attack me again"

"If you promise not to attack me I promise not to do so either"

"I promise not to harm either of you without provocation"

"Now will you get off me"

"It's not truly harming you is it?"

"Hmph"

They then heard a muffled cry "Daring, what is going on? I need your help."

"I guess I'll get off then"

Twenty minutes later the three of them were sitting around Rainbow's campfire the stallion, who Rainbow now knew his name was Quest Finder, was glaring at Rainbow mistrustfully. It had taken almost a whole minute to remove all the wrapping paper from him; there was about twenty different layers. Rainbow had at one point in time suggested that they burn all the paper off leading to Quest flopping about on the ground screaming

"So Daring Do I never even thought you were a real pony"

"Why does everypony say that? It gets tiring having everypony think you're a fictional character" She complained

"If you detest it so much why do you let them produce the books?"

"Whether I like it or not, those books fund my expeditions"

"I just wish they would at least include me in the stories" Quest said

"Are you jealous?" Daring asked

"No" answered Quest obviously lying "It's just that why do you get the entire spotlight while I get none"

"Because I am the leader of the expeditions" Daring answered "and because the ponies of Equestria seem to prefer a mare as the hero for their stories"

"It's sexist if you ask me"

"So I assume that the stories are not real, because they aren't exactly believable" Rainbow interrupted what she knew would end in a bitter argument

"Almost completely made up. Now we have talked about me enough why don't you tell us about yourself Rainbow Dash?"

"Born in Cloudsdale, moved to Ponyville as a weather pegasus and now I direct all the weather in the Ponyville area"

"There's more than that"

"Okay, I'm the fastest flier in Equestria, the only in history to manage the sonic rainboom, the winner of the most recent young fliers competition, the bearer of the Element of Loyalty and as such I have helped save Equestria twice, fighting Nightmare Moon and Discord to do so, I personally know Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Ni-Amore-Cadenza, the latter for whom I was a bridesmaid in her wedding." Rainbow ranted leaving out the fact that she had fought changelings because that whole fiasco was considered classified top secret "so is there anything else you would like to know about me?"

"I think you should have a book series after you instead of me" She said in shock "Why are you in the Everfree forest in the first place?"

"I am on a quest to find my true parents"

"In the middle of the Everfree forest?"

"A long story that I'd rather not explain"

"Oh"

"By the way what exactly was that thing you shot me with anyways" Quest spoke up

"Oh, that is what I like to call the party pistol, it has two functions: one, it is a very fast way to set up for a party and two it is useful in combat"

"Where did the wrapping paper come from? Don't you have to reload it?

"I don't know where the paper came from and I was don't think there is any necessity for reloading. I don't know much about it in fact, I was recently given it by my friend and she didn't explain any of it's workings"

"Interesting"


	6. Chapter 6-In the Forest Part 2

Chapter 6-In the Forest Part 2

Twilight awoke groggy from her sleep. She felt the hard floor under her and wondered if she had fallen off her bed she opened her eyes and saw that she was in the main room of the library. She suddenly remembered all that happened

"What time is it Spike?" she asked the little dragon who had just entered the main room

"Oh! Twilight, it is 9 in the morning. Why?" said the dragon slightly surprised to see Twilight awake

"Good that means I only lost three hours"

"Um, Twilight you were asleep since _last_ morning, what did you do to make yourself so tired anyways?"

"What!? I was sleeping for 27 hours! Why didn't you wake me up Spike?"

"Um ..."

"Twilight dear, would you like to stop yelling? Somepony is trying to get her beauty sleep" said a voice beside Twilight

"Rarity we've been sleeping for over a day; we need to leave soon if we are going to catch up with Rainbow"

"What in tarnation are y'all talking about? Rainbow said we weren't teh follow 'er"

"I agree Twilight, AJ is right" Rarity agreed

"Fine. I wonder where Fluttershy and Pinkie are"

"Well Fluttershy is sleeping there. Isn't she such a dear" Rarity said pointing towards the yellow pegasus who was curled into a ball next to a bookshelf breathing softly. Twilight felt embarrassed that she had failed to notice her quiet friend laying there, scolding herself for being so oblivious. " And Pinkie ... isn't here. She is probably somewhere around town"

"Probably woke up earlier and got bored of sitting around"

"Um, girls?"

"Yes Spike"

"When I woke up yesterday, there was only you four sleeping. Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be found"

"Where could Pinkie be?"

"I don't know"

"Twilight, why is that book flashing?

Twilight turned her head to look at a book with her cutie mark on it which was indeed flashing.

"The inter-book! Maybe Rainbow has sent us a message!"

The three awake ponies rushed to look over Twilight's shoulder. They were all surprised when there was a message, not from Rainbow but from Pinkie.

All three gasped when they saw the message. "Well we know where Pinkie is now"

The book said. _Gone to follow Rainbow Dash. Will hold a party when back_

Pinkie Pie had been bouncing her way through the dreaded Everfree forest for more than a day now, stopping only to eat when hungry. She was passing through a relatively clear area when she smelled something. Campsite!

Pinkie entered a moderately sized clearing and spotted two ponies cleaning up a campsite.

"Hello Daring Do" Pinkie said cheerfully "Hello Daring Do's helper pony who I know the name of"

"The name is Quest Finder"

"Oh, hello Quest Finder. I lo-ove meeting new ponies. My name is Pinkie Pie but you can just call me Pinkie. Oh, hey that reminds me; I am looking for a friend, her name is Rainbow Dash and she is rainbowy and cool and ultra awesome"

"Um, yeah we met her" Quest said with a scowl

"Really?! Where did she go? Did she say? Oh, wait I know where she is going. Silly me"

"She left several hours ago and never told us exactly where she was going"

"Okie-Dokie-Loki. Bye Daring Do, bye Quest Finder" said the pink pony bouncing her way onwards

When the Pinkie was gone Quest Finder was the first to speak "What the buck just happened?"

"I don't know"

Spitfire knocked on the door of the house.

"Oh, hello Spitfire what can I do for you?"

"May I come in?"

"You're always welcome here." said Firewing "Come take a seat."

"When they were both seated comfortably Firewing asked "What brings you here today, sis" Spitfire had only come to his house about half a dozen times since she had joined the Wonderbolts and only when she had something important to bring her to him. Himself and his sister had always been very much polar opposites, he was calm and responsible while his sister was excitable and adventurous, and had drifted apart.

"It's about the filly Rainbow Dash" Firewing raised his eyebrows, he was surprised that his sister had remembered her name. "You were seen talking to her two days ago and now we can't find her. What did you tell her to do?"

Firewing couldn't keep himself from laughing, the absurdity was palatable "Are _you_ accusing _me _of giving young Rainbow bad ideas?"

Spitfire narrowed her eyes "You won't think it so funny when I tell you she was last seen flying into the Everfree Forest"

Firewing abruptly stopped laughing. _Why would she go looking for her parents in the Everfree Forest?_ "Why do you suddenly care so much about her?"

"Because we need her! There are more aerial stunt teams popping up now than ever before; now most of them don't have a chance but Princess Luna has recommissioned the Shadowbolts as her official stunt team and she is planning for them to be _Equestria's_ official flight team!" Firewing had always found his sister to be slightly melodramatic at times but this was more than he expected

"Why do you _need _her?" Firewing had never been to keen on seeing Rainbow Dash as one of the Wonderbolts. Not because he thought it dangerous, or rather not _only_ because he thought it dangerous, but because Rainbow Dash was very sensitive to the public opinion, and all fame comes with it's own dose of infame. He had seen about a dozen articles that held very low opinions of his sister; now Spitfire was unfazed by the slander due to her unnaturally bloated ego, but one bad article might be all it takes to send Rainbow into a downward spiral.

"I, _we_, need her because she is the only pegasus to _ever_ do the sonic rainboom. And we need to recruit her before one of the other teams does" Spitfire had always been frustrating to reason with. She had no patience for anypony but she expected everypony to wait indefinitely for her; the worst part was that due to her fame Spitfire had never been forced to confront her hypocrisy due to the common logic that, she is famous therefor she is special.

"Oh, so you need her because she is the best flier ever to come out of Cloudsdale" He was now deliberately antagonizing his sister.

"No, she is not _the_ best. She might possibly be the _second_ best, but not _the _best"

"You might be right, Wonder Bolt may, _may_, have been better" Wonder Bolt was famed as the father of stunt flying and the founder of the Wonderbolts. He invented several dozen tricks and built a team of the best fliers in Equestria and toured the country putting on shows for the ponyfolk. Wonder Bolt had, not surprisingly, died in a tragic high speed crash that shook the foundations of the whole of Equestria. After his death the team's name was shortened from Wonder Bolt's Amazing Aeronautical Wonder Team to simply The Wonderbolts

Spitfire was now visibly aggravated and was grinding her teeth "Why do you have to be so difficult?"

"You are calling me difficult? You are the most difficult pony alive. I wish that young Rainbow had chosen an idol that wasn't near as belligerent or narcissistic as you are Spitfire."

"What does she mean to you? You keep her down in a shoddy position in a small poor fringe town and get angry when I want to take her to the top"

" First she means everything to me; I _raised_ her! Second I have _not _been holding her in her current position; I have given her several opportunities of advancement but she _wants_ to stay in Ponyville because she doesn't want to leave her friends. And three if you had got past your pride and recruited her earlier you wouldn't be in this position, but you decided that you would let her wait until you absolutely needed her because you took her for granted and assumed that she would always be there in case you needed her"

"You raised her? Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I once told you that I had adopted a young filly named Rainbow Dash but never found it in you to even give a buck"

"I don't even know why I came here in the first place. I knew you wouldn't understand" Spitfire got up and left Firewing's house slamming the door behind her.

"Well that went about as well as it usually did"

Rainbow Dash had woken up early in the morning and had quickly said her goodbyes to the two adventurer ponies and took off to the south. According to the map that Twilight had made she was getting very close to this Mount Olympus

Rainbow noticed that the forest was thinning out into a meadow. Then Rainbow saw a silhouette in the distance of a very tall mountain of sorts. She decided that she would camp here, out of sight of the mountain and whatever dwells in it, and check out the mountain when she was rested and fresh

When she had set up her camp she took one look at the silhouetted mountain before going to sleep


	7. Chapter 7-Mount Olympus

Chapter 7-Mount Olympus

As Rainbow Dash flew towards the mountain she started to get an appreciation for the massive scale it was the mountain rose to twice the elevation of any mountain she had ever seen before, but still significantly below her flight level, and it looked like the top of the mountain had been cut off leaving a large flat area on the top.

As Rainbow approached she started to try to estimate the size of the plateau on the top of the mountain out of curiosity, but she was having trouble focusing on the spot; when she looked straight towards the flat area she felt as if something was forcing her eyes to focus elsewhere. This only succeeded in making Rainbow angrier and more persistent. She was now pouring all her focus into trying to see whatever was causing this uncomfortable effect. _What was that?_ Rainbow had seen a glint of gold

As Rainbow got closer she started seeing more and more glints of colour: gold, silver, crimson, gold, white, gold, silver, gold. Rainbow was quickly approaching the mountain, _let's see what this Mount Olympus really is_

When Rainbow was about a kilometre out she slowed out of shock. Out in front of her, on the level top of the mountain, was the biggest city she had ever seen in her life. The city covered the entire top of the mountain and covered four times as much area as the entire Greater Canterlot Area and entirely packed with massive building that would dwarf the Canterlot Royal Palace. The streets were wide and full of ponies of all shapes and sizes. Rainbow stared onward in awe _how the buck did I miss this?_ Rainbow thought about it for a while before landing.

She was looking in awe at every building she passed taking in all the sights and sounds of this wonderfully foreign city. _Twilight would love this place, with all the amazing architecture._

"You're not from around here are you?" _I think all my friends would love this place_.

"Hey you with the rainbow mane" called a young looking turquoise pegasus colt with a light blue mane and sapphire eyes

"Huh?"

"Yes you"

"What?"

"You're not from around here are you?" he asked again

"No. Why?"

"Oh, we just don't get very many visitors to Mount Olympus"

"Really, how can a city as big as this survive without any trade"

"We make everything that we need in the city, we don't need trade" He said pridefully

"Interesting"

"So what brings you to glorious Mount Olympus?"

Rainbow hesitated; on one hoof she was very self-conscious about letting anypony know that she had never known her parents, however, on the other hoof she knew that finding her mother in such a massive city would be impossible without any help. Anyways this stallion seemed nice enough. "I am searching for my parents and I have reason to hope I might find them here"

"Okay, demigod, you should head over to the Hall of the Olympians; you are most likely to find your immortal parent there"

"Okay, where is the Hall of the Olympians?"

"You see that large building there?" he pointed to a massive golden dome in the centre of the city "Just follow this road to it"

"Okay, thank you" Rainbow walked off towards the hall

"Hey Danveria is that your new _romantic _interest?"

"No that is _not_. I don't date mortals, especially not equine ones"

"Have you looked in a mirror recently? _You_ are equine"

"Unlike you I was not born equine, I was changed by the curse while you were born after it"

"So? You can fly now. You were never able to do that before the change"

"I don't care, horses are dumb animals that are little more than beasts of burden. I hate being an animal"

"You do realize that these ponies are not dumb beasts of burden; they are the dominant race of this world and are rather quite intelligent"

"If they're so intelligent tell me why it was so easy to convince that last pegasus that the she should go to the Hall of the Olympians?"

"Because they are also extremely naive"

"So, how long do you think she will last?"

"You are a twisted and sadistic monster ... and she won't last twenty minutes"

Rainbow approached the massive building. It consisted of a large golden dome supported with hundred's of massive white marble pillars.

Rainbow walked a third of the way around the building before she found what looked to be the entrance. It was large golden double doors that had a massive Ω engraved into it. _Well it's now or never, my mother or father might be behind these doors_

Rainbow pushed the door open a crack, which was surprisingly easy, and entered a massive throne room; however, rather than just one or two thrones the room contained no less than a dozen thrones, each one done in a completely different style, with twelve ponies, five mares and seven stallions every one least as big as Princess Celestia and many larger.

"Thou dare enter the presence of thine gods mortal?" Screamed a storm grey pegasus stallion with a black mane and storm grey eyes as he was getting off a throne made entirely out of clouds "I should make an example of thou to show your kind the perils of messing with their betters!" The stallion held up a rod of pure electricity and was bringing it down on rainbow

`Zeus, father, would you not think it wise to at least let her speak before you turn her to ash? What she says may be of importance" Said a light grey unicorn mare of similar colouring to her father sitting on an artistic throne depicting battle themes.

"Yes, as Athena says, why are you here? Young one" asked a white pegasus stallion with golden eyes and a yellow mane sitting on a golden throne depicting the sun.

"It does not matter why she is here, I am in charge and I say she dies and there is nothing you can do about it!" Zeus said regressing from his archaic language for a very childish, but truly dreadful, statement

"Nothing Ares can do about it?" said a burgundy earth-pony with a crimson mane "Ares takes that as a challenge" he got up to face Zeus, which allowed Rainbow to see that his cutie mark was a bloody spear, Rainbow

"Brother, Zeus, I would rather say that I am in charge in this situation, due to the fact that the mortal in question is equine, and that falls under my charge" said a blue unicorn with a turquoise mane and eyes sitting on a throne made of bright coral

"Poseidon you must remember that she flies in the skies, _my_ skies" Zeus turned to his brother showing the lightning bolt on his flank to Rainbow "anyways no sentient being can be put under the power of any single god"

"You say that she should not be put under the power of one Olympian yet you want to her fate to be decided solely by you?" Athena asked questioningly

"Ares what do you think I should do to her?"

"Kill"

"Now I say that her fate is to be decided by both myself and Ares"

"Ares, has the intelligence of a rock; his opinion is void" said Athena

"Ares doesn't take well to insults, foolish child" Ares was suddenly covered head to hoof in heavy armour and carrying a long spear and a elliptical shield

"Try me" Athena answered now covered in a lighter and more manoeuvrable armour, she was armed with a sword and a (literally) horrifically ugly round shield

"Stop!" roared Zeus "I will not have you fight like animals in my hall, the mortal might try something"

"Oh really brother" Poseidon took several steps forward "she look like a frightened little mare to me" the god walked up and started to stroke Rainbow's mane. _Is he coming onto me? _Rainbow just stood there in shock not sure what to do. "It will be okay, just come with me" _He is. What do I do_

"Poseidon get away from her! Now!" A silver unicorn mare had gotten up and now had a silver hunting bow aimed at Poseidon "I will not have you defiling another maiden with your lusts, I remember what you did to that poor girl Medusa"

"Yes" Poseidon turned away from Rainbow, who sighed in relief, and moved towards Athena. Rainbow couldn't help noticing his cutie mark looked like the head of some three pronged spear, s_trange. _"Although I would have to disagree on who defiled her" he rested his hand on Athena's shield "At least _I _didn't turn her into a gorgon"

"That stupid girl should have come to me instead; I would have protected her" The silver unicorn said

"Not likely Artemis, you would have made her _wish_ she was a gorgon after the hell you would have put her through" said a green earth-pony stallion with a wine coloured mane in an overly cheery voice

"Shut up" Zeus screamed then he turned to Rainbow "I hope your happy, I will destroy you. Sowers of discord are not welcome at Olympus"

Rainbow's fear had been set aside by a just fury "How dare you call me that, Zeus. I come to Olympus in peace and harmony and you threaten, no intend, to kill me for no good reason. And when your other 'gods' get into a fight, you and your belligerence, call me a sower of discord, a bringer of disharmony."

Zeus's face contorted rage "You insolent fool, you die now" he lifted the lightning bolt above his head and sent a bolt of energy straight at Rainbow. _So this is how it ends, goodbye world_

Much to Rainbow's surprise the bolt never hit her. A prismatic force-shield materialized a second before Rainbow was turned to ash causing the bolt of electricity to recoil and send Zeus flying several metres back. "None shall touch her" boomed a voice coming from the door. Rainbow turned to see a pegasus mare only slightly larger than herself walk into the hall, she was pure white with a rainbow mane and cutie mark of a rainbow arcing between two clouds.

"Iris how dare you enter the hall of the Olympians without my permission" Zeus screamed "And how dare you, a minor goddess, challenge me, the king of the Olympians"

"I believe that it is in Olympic law that a mother can attend the trial of her daughter"

A shocked expression flew over eleven Olympic faces "Mother?" said Rainbow Dash

"Yes" Iris said to her daughter then turned to Zeus "And I would say that I am no longer a minor goddess, over the last 153 years I have been steadily growing in power and learning Equestrian magic while you have all been waning without the mortal worship you relied on for your power"

"Who is the lucky mortal? Did he get you drunk? Or was it at a party? Or was it at both? Or did you go insane? If the latter I feel jealous of him. I love insane people, especially goddesses" said the overexcited green earth-pony stallion. _He kinda reminds me of Pinkie; a creepy criminally insane Pinkie Pie_

"No, Dionysus, your influence was nowhere to be found"

"Aw" he pouted

" How dare you. I say the adulterous goddess should be exiled and her base-born demigod be destroyed" said a white pegasus mare with a pale gold mane

"For once I agree with you Hera, Iris is to be exiled and her daughter smitten" Zeus said

"If we exiled every god and goddess who was involved in adulterous affairs only Hera, Artemis and myself would still be in this hall" Athena said "and if we would have executed every demigod Olympus would have fallen millenia ago"

"I don't care" Zeus let another bolt out at Rainbow which was once again blocked by a iridescent shield. Rainbow could she that the shield was significantly less powerful than the previous one

Zeus sent several more bolts of lightning waning the shield further. Rainbow knew that the shield would not last forever

"Stop now, Zeus, if you know what's good for you" said a completely cyan stallion who appeared through the solid wall of the hall, he was an alicorn however he was missing a large amount of body parts: left ear, right eye, tip of his horn, right wing and left back leg. He turned to Zeus allowing Rainbow to see his blank flank "I command you to stop"

"Who in Styx are you" Zeus replied with venom

"Oh, my naive grandson, I had hoped to see that you would find that out for yourself"

"Grandson?" Zeus said in confusion

"Oh! Hello Lord Your-Anus" Dionysus said with a mocking bow

"I much prefer to be called Ouranos, rather than Uranus, due to the common mispronunciation the mad one demonstrated"

"You! Your dead, faded, gone" Zeus said

"First I am a god therefore I cannot die. Second I am much to powerful to fade. And Third I am here thus I cannot be gone"

"Why are you here?"

"Because you were about to fry my two favourite goddesses. My love and my daughter"

"What?"

"Iris has devoted her last 300 or so years to rebuilding me after your father, Cronus, diced me up with that scythe of his; obviously I am still missing a few pieces, but nothing too important. Of course I still look better then Hephaestus" He looked towards a black earth-pony with a red, yellow and orange striped mane and a terribly mutilated body "but that is not much of a challenge. And; There is another reason why I am here" he walked up to Zeus's throne and stuck his hoof into the clouds and pulled out what looked to be an eye he then proceeded to put it into his right eye-socket with a terrible 'squelch' then turned to look at Zeus "But heed my words Zeus. If you touch one hair on either Iris or my daughter. I will make _sure_ you fade"

"Rainbow Dash, did you not get the letter I left for you. It was not safe for you to come here" Iris said. The three of them were walking down one of the radial streets of Olympus

"Zeus almost killed you" Ouranos added

"I just couldn't stand not knowing who you were. It was too painful"

"How did you find Olympus anyways? I made sure not to leave any possible hint" Iris asked

"It's a long story"

"Why don't you save it until we are comfortable at my house?"

"Okay"

Rainbow happily walked down the street in silence with her new-found parents


	8. Chapter 8-A Lesson in History

T Chapter 8-A lesson in History

The spring goddess was happily walking through the meadows near Olympus doing her favourite, and some would say her only, pastime, picking flowers. Many were surprised that Persephone continued to do so even after being kidnapped by Hades and made his queen; but the now queen of the underworld smiled Hades' realm was not so bad, there was flowers to pick and gemstones for Hades to shower her with, and she needed only to stay there for four months a year, which really was not so bad. Anyways she had been picking flowers almost every day of her life and only once had anything bad happened. What was the chances that something would happen? Both Hades and her mother Demeter were very protective of her and none in their right mind would anger either of them; not to mention that Persephone had brought Athena along to pick flowers, or in Athena's case to study and document flowers, and Athena was more than capable of protecting her. So even if Persephone was incapable of self-defence, what could go wrong?

Persephone heard the rustle of grass behind her "Athena is that you?"

There was no response "Athena?"

She heard the grass rustle again, except closer

She got up and turned around "Athena this isn't funny..." Persephone found herself face to face with a creature she had never seen in her long life, a creature of nightmare about which she had only heard the faintest whispers. It was an abomination; it looked like someone had taken the part from a hundred different creatures and smashed them together into one terrible monster. It was a draconequus, a creature of chaos that inhabited the dreaded Chaotic Lands

"I think you will do nicely" It said

"What?" Persephone asked fearfully

"You will do nicely. Your blood of Ichor is clean and pure, and with it we will raise the true king of Equestria from his stone tomb"

Persephone was wide eyed in shock. The discussion of Ichor, the blood of the gods, was highly tabooed on Olympus due to its connection to injury and possibly death

"Your life and immortality will be forfeit for the greatest of causes; to raise from stone the king of the draconequi and the king of this world, Discord. Come weak goddess; through this you will serve a greater purpose than you could ever have served on your own." Persephone felt herself being wrapped in a strange force that could be nothing but magic, she suddenly recovered from the paralysis of shock when she realized what was happening to her, again, and she did the only thing she could; she screamed

Athena had been studying a strange blue flower with very strange magical properties when she heard it.

A scream. But not just any scream. A scream that she had only ever heard once before. A scream that cut deep into her immortal soul. The scream of the helpless Persephone

"Persephone, what is it?" the Olympian screamed at the top of her voice. Hearing no response Athena ran towards the origin of the scream

Athena came to the place that the scream had come from; she knew this was the right place for two reasons: first, there was a small pile of wild-flowers on the ground and Persephone _never_ dropped flowers on the ground, and second, the entire area was saturated with a strange type of magic. Athena knew that Persephone was in peril but she could see little she could do to help her, tracking was not Athena's sphere of influence it was Artemis's. But Artemis had left Olympus shortly after the last meeting to hunt dangerous monsters; so there was nothing Athena could do.

Unless. The use of Equestrian magic was strictly forbidden in Olympus. This was due to the fact that it meant that any god or goddess, or at least the ones that had taken the form of unicorns, could use spells to do essentially anything. This directly opposes the Olympian ideology of every god or goddess having one or more very specific 'spheres of control' (area's or specializations that they have large amounts of power in); however Athena had taken it on herself to learn as much as she could about the unicorn magic (she was the goddess of skill and knowledge after all) including spells to detect, and possibly follow, the magic use of others. Athena was morally torn about the whole situation she had to choose between saving a friend who couldn't save herself and following the laws of the Gods.

Well Athena had always strongly believed in the philosophy of 'end before the means'. Athena was surprised when her horn lit up with a silver-grey glow, Ever since she had taken this form she couldn't help wondering what colour her magic was, and cast her first spell.

She was surprised to find that the strange magic had left a very obvious trail leading straight towards the Chaotic Lands. She broke into a gallop following the trail that leads to Persephone.

Father, mother and daughter were sitting around in the main room of Iris's cloud-house. To the extent of Rainbow's knowledge it was the only cloud-house in the city of Olympus; however this house, unlike all the cloud-houses Rainbow had ever seen, was not in the sky but was rather was built on the ground. The idea of a grounded cloud-house was slightly absurd, but when Rainbow had asked about it Iris had said that Olympus had laws against building in the sky.

Rainbow had given her parents a quick synopsis of her entire life up to this point. Taking two hours (two hours is pretty quick to explain twenty odd years) to go through every important event in her life: from her earliest memories, to her acceptance to flight camp, to her sonic rainboom (which resulted in her cutie mark, the destruction of much of the camp, the injury of about a dozen pegasi and Rainbow's expulsion from the camp), then her move to Ponyville, followed by Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony and about all of the adventures she had gone on with her new found friends (including the changeling invasion and King Sombra and the Crystal Empire even though those events were considered top secret by the Princesses)

"Rainbow I also have a story for you." Ouranos said "It is the story of this world and all the others"

"In the beginning there was nothing, and this nothing was called Chaos. But nothing simply cannot exist; nothing is the most unstable thing, or lack of anything, possible. So out of Chaos came two entities, Tartarus and Yggdrasil, the World Tree, known as the father and the mother to the primordial generation of gods. A generation that included Chronos, time; myself, sky; Gaea, earth; Nyx, night; Aether, light; along with hundreds of others whom I do not know the names of.

Quickly the others of the primordial generation dispersed finding worlds that suited their tastes. Most found worlds in Yggdrasil but some found worlds deep in Tartarus"

"Wait, I thought you said that Tartarus and Yggdrasil were people but now you are talking about them as if they're places. Which are they?"

"They're both. They are the personification of places"

"What?"

"They are places but they have physical and psychological characteristics of people"

"Oh, so you mean they are the ponyfication of places, that makes sense" The response from Rainbow incited a chuckle from Iris and a grimace from Ouranos

"Anyways, on with the story

However there were five children who did not go exploring: Time, Sky, Earth, Night and Light. We stayed at the place where the roots of Yggdrasil met the shallowest pits of Tartarus, a place at the centre of the world. While we were the only ones that stayed able to communicate with both our parents; we were unable to find any suitable worlds in the area and therefore had no real home

Tartarus saw this and was saddened by it. So he came to us and gave Gaea a powerful artifact. It was a short knife that was sharper than anything. With the power of the knife we were able to create a world that fit our desires completely, a world that had been called many names, a world that we called ..."

"Let me guess. Was it Equestria?"

"No it was not Equestria, it was never know as Equestria, this world was called Earth"

"What an absurd name for a world, anyways wasn't Earth one of the proposed names for Equestria"

"It is not so absurd if you know that the term earth is in fact named after Earth, and the proposal of naming Equestria Earth is little more than a coincidence due to the meaning of the term earth"

"Hmm"

"Well anyways, the creation of Earth caused many more deities to appear Erebus, darkness; Hemera, day, Pontus, the sea and many various nymphs, the spirits of nature and natural things such as trees, rivers and mountains. But along with the deities appeared monsters such as the Cyclops and the Hekatonkheires, or the hundred handed ones, who were imprisoned in a near world of Tartarus that is commonly called the pits of Tartarus

I married Gaea and we had twelve children together. Who were known as the first generation of titans"

"Wait, you just married her?"

"No I didn't. We were together for one hundred years before me married"

"Oh"

"As I was saying. All the Titans were happy; Well all but one. Cronus the youngest of the titans was unreasonably ambitious; he was obsessed with the idea of being king.

"Chronos as in Time?"

"No Chronos and Cronus are two very different characters; Chronos is wise while Cronus was belligerent. It would be tragic for someone to mix them up"

"Heh, I guess it would"

"So, one day myself and Gaea had a fight, I forget what it was about but it was fairly important, and Gaea went to Cronus with a proposition. He would be the king of the titans if he took the knife, the same knife that had been used to cut Earth out of the world tree, and castrate me. Unfortunately the little brat got caught up in the blood-lust and ended up dicing me into hundreds of pieces"

Rainbow was horrified. Not only from the content of the story but also from the matter-of-fact tone that her father was telling it in. "That's horrible"

"It was not much fun" Ouranos answered without emotion

"How can you talk like that?"

"It was a long time ago. You have to learn how to forgive others for the wrongs they have bestowed upon you; otherwise hate will destroy you. And holding emotion due to past events will only hinder your path into the future"

"I think I understand"

Iris now spoke up "The titans ruled the Earth for hundreds of years. In which a young titan named Prometheus, a second generation titan, created the first sapient race in the image of the gods, the humans. The humans, who were bipedal and omnivorous, lived happily under the rule of Cronus in what was called the golden age. However Cronus was to be overthrown by his children just as he had overthrown Ouranos. Cronus knew this so he swallowed his children, known as the first generation of the Olympic gods, as they came out, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia were swallowed however Cronus's wife Rhea switched Zeus for a rock and had the young god raised elsewhere.

"Was it the same Zeus that tried to kill me in the hall of the Olympians?"

"Yes it was. And Poseidon, Hera and Demeter are also Olympians, although Demeter didn't say much when you were there.

When Zeus had grown to adulthood he went to his father and tricked Cronus to regurgitate his siblings. The six immediately started to amass forces against the titans, they had children and their children had children giving them the second and third generations of gods. They also freed the Cyclops and the hundred handed ones who pledged to fight with the gods. Then came the first true war, the Titanomachy. The gods and their monster allies defeated the titans, Zeus then took the knife, which Cronus had changed into the form of a scythe, and did to Cronus as had been done to Ouranos and cast the pieces into the pits of Tartarus.

After the war the three first generation gods each took a part of the world, Zeus took the sky, Poseidon took the ocean and Hades was left with the underworld and the pits of Tartarus. Zeus then formed the Olympians. Twelve of the most important gods and goddesses, except Hades who was not invited, who come together to discuss affairs. There was originally going to be six gods and six goddesses but Hestia gave up her place to Dionysus so she could tend the hearth-fire of Olympus

Prometheus, who had helped the gods during the Titanomachy, however was unhappy with the Olympians who treated the humans as slaves or animals. He convinced the gods that the humans would do them more good if they were able to build their own self-governed civilizations that could worship the gods than if they were merely the gods workers. So the gods let the humans go free, however they did not give the humans the tools of civilization so humanity started to slowly die out. Prometheus begged the gods to give the humans what they needed for survival but was denied. So he stole from the gods what the humans needed (fire, language, mathematics, architecture, science, philosophy et cetera) and gave them to humanity

When Zeus found out he sentenced Prometheus to eternal torture for his crimes. Then Zeus went down to the humans planing to destroy them but changed his mind when he saw that the humans had erected a shrine to him and were worshipping him, and not only that he felt that the worship was actually giving him strength.

From that point on the Gods started to compete for the favour of the mortals. When mortals went to war the gods choose favourites and when the gods went to war the mortals followed. This continued for millenia. However as the humans developed their science and explained more of their world they had less and less use for the gods of Olympus but the gods continued to try and gain favour. As the humans stopped worshipping the gods, the gods lost power; the gods had become so used to the worship that they had become all but dependent on it. But still the gods followed the humans into war; then the humans developed a weapon that surpassed all mortal weapons, a weapon of mass destruction. With this weapon the humans settled into an uneasy peace where the possibility of war terrified all of their nations who knew that the next war might well be humanities last

Then nearly two hundred years ago war suddenly broke out without any logical reason. It was not a war I was part of due to the fact that I had started my quest to rebuild your father. But it was a terrible war, within the first week millions were dead on Earth, however it was not nearly as bad as it could be because inexplicably the weapons of mass destruction were never used by any nation. And as usual the gods of Olympus all chose sides to support.

However several months into the war the fighting stopped, as suddenly as it had started, with a strange armistice. Then the unbelievable happened; humanity declared war on the gods. For the first several years or so the gods defeated everything that was sent at them; however the humans learned quick and adopted a new and brutal stratagem. First, they wiped out the nymphs; they burnt down all the forests, they poisoned all the fresh water sources, they lulled the cloud and breeze nymphs with music only to murder them, they used small machines to find and kill all the ocean nymphs; within several years all the nymphs were either dead or dying."

"How could they just kill them like that?"

"You have to realize that the humans are deeply afraid of anything that they don't understand"

"So are ponies, we didn't understand Zecora so we were afraid of her. However we would _never_ had gone to the extent of to _kill_ her"

"Human instincts vary greatly from ponies, humans are omnivorous which means they kill and eat meat along with eating vegetation. Because they are hunters, they have a very different reaction to a possible threat. They would attack where ponies would hide"

"But there are historical accounts of groups of ponies that ate meat"

Iris looked greatly surprised by this "Really?"

"Yes"

"Well, how do you think that these ponies would have responded to this Zecora?"

"They would have probably killed her"

"My point exactly

Then they killed everything they considered a monster, which included several intelligent races, like the centaurs, half human and half equine, and the satyrs, half human and half goat.

And then they kidnapped every minor god or goddess that they could and studied them to develop weapons that could be used against Olympus.

And then they sealed every gateway that lead to another world and would allow the gods escape.

And then they attacked, fighting their way to Olympus and surrounding it, readying their weapons for it's destruction.

Just when all was lost, Poseidon told us of one gateway that had not been blocked by the humans. One gateway that the humans didn't even know about, the gateway to Equestria. However, we had no way to get to that gateway; we were surrounded. And even if we did get past the humans, the gateway was in one of the deepest places in the ocean. So we were even more discouraged.

In the end there was only one idea left. It was an utterly insane idea, but it was our only hope. We used all the magical energy that was stored in Olympus in one last attempt to save ourselves and managed to teleport the entire Mount Olympus and every god or goddess on earth to Equestria. After the teleport we found that it had caused a very strange side effect, it had turned all the gods and goddesses of Olympus into ponies. Personally it was a very small price to pay for survival, but most of Olympus was horrified. That was about 137 years ago"

"Has anything happened since then?"

"No, the only thing of significance that has been done since then was that a small group of gods and goddesses found this side of the gateway to Earth and sealed it so none of the humans could get through. Well the only thing of significance that has happened so far ..."

"What?"

"Oh, just a feeling I'm getting"


End file.
